With a maiden drivers’ title on the line for Lando Norris, McLaren are yet to back him in his championship quest. The team still insists on not having a number one driver in the team, and with only eight races to go, the #4 driver has a 62-point deficit against Max Verstappen to overturn.
Last weekend, the Italian GP saw the Briton lose a golden opportunity to win and make a considerable dent in the Dutchman’s lead after his teammate, Oscar Piastri took the lead from him on lap 1. F1 YouTuber, Josh Revell has now compared the Woking-based team’s situation to Williams and Nigel Mansell’s fate in 1986 — if they don’t act soon.
The 1986 F1 season saw Mansell emerge as a strong favorite to win the drivers’ title. However, the Grove-based team allowed their drivers to “race”. The penultimate round of the championship in Mexico saw Mansell finish behind his teammate, Nelson Piquet (who only had an outside chance to win the title). The team could have orchestrated a swap and Mansell could have beaten Alain Prost as well to take a decisive lead in the championship.
However, the title battle went into the last race of the season at Adelaide. Mansell only needed to finish third to win the title. But his tire blew up mid-race handing an impossible championship win to Prost by just two points. Needless to say, Williams and Mansell might still rue the missed opportunities that year — especially in Mexico.
“And look at that… That’s Mansell!”
Adelaide 1986 – Murray at his effervescent, captivating best pic.twitter.com/mEHDrRjBR1
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2021
McLaren find themselves in a similar situation this year. Norris is the clear title contender in the team. Yet, they asked the Briton to hand over the race win to his teammate at the 2024 Hungarian GP, earlier this year.
At Monza, last weekend, the team once again chose not to invert positions between their drivers toward the end of the race — which could have handed a three-point advantage to Norris against Verstappen.
With time running out for the British racing driver and Red Bull ready to sacrifice the Constructors’ championship to allow Verstappen a fourth consecutive title, the McLaren camp needs to show a sense of urgency.
Norris and McLaren need to pull their socks up
As Revell explained, Piastri cannot be blamed for the Italian GP incident. The Woking team have not designated him to be the number two while backing Norris for the title. Therefore, he was entitled to make the move that he did on Norris into the second chicane.
LAP 1 / 53
PIASTRI TAKES THE LEAD!!
The Australian sweeps around Norris at the della Roggia chicane to lead the field!!
Leclerc also squeezes past into second, sparking jubilation in the stands! #F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/ViptiU4v5v
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 1, 2024
And while McLaren need to deploy team orders if they want to wrap both the championships up, Norris, too, needs to up his game. His record off the line has been a clear problem for him. Out of his four pole positions this year, he has failed to lead the race after lap 1 on all those occasions.
This has been a perennial weakness for the #4 driver, though. Even his previous poles in sprint races (Brazil 2023 and China 2024), as well as his maiden pole in Russia 2021, did not see him lead at the end of the opening lap.
So, while Norris has great race pace and can come back to win the race, he is putting himself out of contention at the start itself, which can prove costly on some tracks as it did in Monza.
